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Rod Goy remembers a time when it seemed like there were always more apprentices looking for work in the trades in B.C. than there were jobs. And that had been the case for years and years.

It is no longer the case, says Goy, dean of the School of Construction and Environment at the British Columbia Institute of Technology. And the trend worries him a little.

“There’s going to be continued growth in the Vancouver area, but there’s going to be huge growth in northern British Columbia,” he said.

“That’s where the jobs are.”

The boom from projects such as liquefied natural gas plants, pipelines, shipbuilding, and a flourishing mining industry are driving that demand for labour. From the proposed Northern Gateway pipeline in Kitimat, to the development of liquid natural gas export facilities, to the construction of the Site C Dam on the Peace River, the opportunities for construction workers, welders, industrial mechanics and electricians in B.C. seem endless.

Until recently, the apprenticeship model in B.C. seemed to be meeting industry’s needs for workers, said Goy. But he says a huge labour shortage is expected as early as 2015. The government projects that of one million job openings expected by 2020, 43 per cent will require skilled workers.

“Even if all our young people go into trades training today — they all want to become construction workers, which isn’t likely — we’re still going to need 20,000 more in order to get the projects built that are on the books today,” said Abigail Fulton, vice-president of the BC Construction Association.

The problem, said Fulton, is this: First, many of the province’s journey people — trades people who have been certified by the Canadian Red Seal Program — are retiring.

And unless a journey person is on-site to train an apprentice, there can be no job openings.

Unlike the university model, where a student takes courses, receives a degree, and then gets a job afterward, apprentices get their jobs first and then do most of their training on the job under the supervision of journey persons.

There will be periods when the apprentice leaves to go to a college or institute, but he or she will then go back to the job site and carry on with the training.

Fulton believes this traditional apprenticeship model is most ideal because the Red Seal certification is recognized not just in Canada, but around the world.

“I personally believe we’re at an age where you need to be able to not just practice your trade in Canada, you need to be able to go to Australia or go somewhere else because economies change,” she said.

“We’re not opposed to improvements (to the apprenticeship model) or discussions, we just haven’t seen anything that’s better.”

But not only are many journey people nowadays reaching the age of retirement, there are just not enough young people who want to become apprentices, said Goy.

“We still live in a world where mom and dad and kids and teachers have a very university-centric (ideology),” he said.

“It’s like, ‘Ideally I want my kid to get a degree, a degree is basic education to getting a job somewhere, but they don’t necessarily have to have their mind made up before going into it.’”

While Goy agrees the current apprenticeship model has to stay, he says it could use some improvements.

“The apprenticeship system has always been fairly reactionary. Employers can hire people and indenture them and get them going fairly quickly,” he said.

“What happens when all of a sudden, employers can’t hire people? That’s what we have to look at — what kind of system do we need going forward?”

Goy says the mentality around blue-collar jobs versus white-collar jobs has to change. But more importantly, change needs to start at the post-secondary level. He suggests developing more programming that could allow high school graduates to explore the trades before deciding whether they want to pursue an apprenticeship.

“If only students, when they graduate from high school, could in large numbers, take a program that isn’t dead-ended and ladders into something, but gives them a knowledge and breadth that will get them into a skilled trade or technician,” he said.

“But we just don’t have that.”

Vancouver-based Mott Electric hires 40 apprentices every year, and president Dan Mott says raising awareness about the benefits of being a skilled worker is key.

“I tell young people starting as early as Grade 10, if you don’t know what you want to do, look at the trades, see if getting dirty and (being in a) more of a rough-and-tumble world appeals to you,” he said.

“By the time you’re 21, you’re making $70,000 a year, and if you want to be a brain surgeon after that, at least you’ve got a trade that can put you through university.”

After apprentices receive the Red Seal designation, they can travel across and outside of Canada to practise their trade.

And depending on the trade, certified workers could make between $100,000 and $250,000 a year — especially if they work for the projects proposed for northern B.C., or in oil production at Fort McMurray, Alta., said Fulton.

“I’m not saying it’s necessarily a walk in the park, you’re going to be working in a cold climate,” she said, “but even if you do that for a couple of years, imagine the start it’d give you if you want to start your own business or go back to school.”

Mott also suggested stricter provincial regulations of the trades in B.C. would help attract and keep people in the trades.

“You don’t have to have a plumbing ticket to be a plumber, anybody can do it,” he said.

“Why get into a trade if you’re not going to be respected after you get your ticket as the chosen one who should do the work, and anybody can get your job the next day for five bucks-an-hour or less?”

Without some sort of change, Fulton says the province will just have to do what many employers are already doing: hire overseas.

“There’s not an employer out there who wouldn’t rather hire a British Columbian than go offshore, because it’s a hassle getting people in from overseas. It’s not something you do just willy-nilly,” she said.

“But it’s a reality right now.”

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